| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| HTA ID | HTA-0343 |
| Title | The Last Bible — Arion Press and the Art of Letterpress |
| Date | ~1999–2000 |
| Date Confidence | High (references dot-com influx forcing Arion Press to relocate from SoMa/Multimedia Gulch; Arion Press Bible project ran 1999–2000) |
| Program | KRON-TV Channel 4 |
| Station | KRON-TV, San Francisco |
| Duration | ~6 minutes |
| Format | Feature |
Henry visits Arion Press in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood where publisher Andrew Hoyen is printing what may be the last Bible ever produced from movable type by letterpress. The piece opens with Genesis-like narration ("In the beginning, there is the lead, molten and fluid, and without form") and follows the entire production process: Lewis Mitchell casting type in the foundry with over fifty years of experience, an ancient Macintosh computer jury-rigged into the monotype system to convert digital text into hot lead, 7,000 pounds of metal, 100-pound page forms requiring two people to lift into the press bed. The finished product will be a foot and a half tall, weigh 25 pounds, with gold leaf, hand binding, and illuminated letters in a limited run of 400 copies.
The piece builds to its philosophical core through Hoyen's reflections on substance versus insubstantiality — the physical permanence of letterpress versus the ephemeral electronic world growing up around them. In a poignant irony, the dot-com boom that defines "Multimedia Gulch" is forcing this 30-ton operation to relocate. Hoyen acknowledges the "unavoidable" spiritual component of printing a Bible: he will read the entire text aloud during proofreading. The piece closes with Henry's narration over Psalm 5: "Give ear to my words, O Lord."
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| People | Andrew Hoyen (publisher/printer, Arion Press), Lewis Mitchell (type caster, 50+ years experience), Johannes Gutenberg (referenced) |
| Organizations | Arion Press, KRON-TV |
| Locations | Arion Press, South of Market / Multimedia Gulch, San Francisco, California |
| Subjects | Letterpress printing, bookmaking, craftsmanship, technology and tradition |
| Themes | Analog craft in a digital age, spirituality, the permanence of physical objects, dot-com era displacement, the printed word as sacred act |
| Keywords | Arion Press, Bible, letterpress, movable type, Andrew Hoyen, Lewis Mitchell, Gutenberg, dot-com, San Francisco |
| Career Period | KRON-TV, San Francisco (1992–2002) |
"In the beginning, there is the lead, molten and fluid, and without form. And it is melded with the word, ancient and powerful and full of mystery." — Henry's opening narration
"This may very well be the last Bible printed from movable type by letterpress."
"What we're doing is substantial, as opposed to, or in contrast to what you might think of the insubstantiality of what's going on in the electronic world." — Andrew Hoyen
"The spiritual component is unavoidable." — Andrew Hoyen
"Give ear to my words, O Lord." — Psalm 5, closing
"The guy who originally developed this machine went crazy. He wound up in a sale asylum." — Lewis Mitchell on the monotype machine's inventor
This is one of Henry's finest KRON pieces — a masterwork of structure, tone, and thematic resonance. The opening narration deliberately echoes Genesis ("In the beginning..."), establishing from the first sentence that this story operates on multiple levels: it is about lead becoming type, but also about creation itself. Henry sustains this dual register throughout, moving between the gritty physical details (7,000 pounds of metal, 100-pound forms, a jury-rigged Macintosh) and the spiritual significance of the work.
The dot-com irony is handled with extraordinary restraint. Henry does not editorialize about the displacement of Arion Press; he simply presents the facts — the neighborhood is now "Multimedia Gulch," the dot-com influx will force relocation of 30 tons of equipment — and lets the contrast speak for itself. Hoyen's word "substantial" does the philosophical work: letterpress is literally substantial (having substance, weight, mass) in a way that electronic media is not.
The closing is architecturally perfect. After Hoyen's reflection on reading the entire Bible aloud during proofreading, Henry's narration arrives at Psalm 5 — "Give ear to my words, O Lord" — which functions simultaneously as a prayer, a statement about the power of spoken words, and a meta-commentary on Henry's own craft of speaking words for a living.
| Type | Reference |
|---|---|
| HACD | HACD-0112 — Priorities article mentioning Henry's KRON work |
| Theme | Craftsmanship and tradition — connects to Zambelli Fireworks (HTA-0341) |
| Theme | Immortality through art — connects to King Tut (HTA-0339, "to speak the name of the dead makes him live again") |
| Technique | Pure narration/essay opening — same Genesis-echo technique as King Tut piece |
| Career Period | KRON-TV features era, late 1990s/early 2000s |
| Context | Dot-com era San Francisco — historical document of neighborhood transformation |
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Source File | The Last Bible copy (1).txt |
| Source Location | /transcript macwhisper/ (root folder) |
| Transcription Quality | Excellent — clear narration and interview audio throughout |
| Repository Status | Preserved in Source Repository |
Arion Press, founded by Andrew Hoyem (note: transcript renders as "Hoyen") in 1974, is one of America's premier fine press publishers, producing limited-edition books using traditional letterpress methods. The Arion Press Bible project (formally "The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments, King James Version") was completed in 2000 in an edition of 400 copies. It is widely considered one of the finest examples of 20th-century letterpress printing. The press was indeed located in San Francisco's South of Market area and was forced to relocate due to rising rents during the dot-com boom, eventually moving to the Presidio.
Lewis Mitchell's role as type caster with over fifty years of experience makes him one of the last practitioners of a craft dating to Gutenberg's era. The "ancient Macintosh" jury-rigged into the monotype system represents a fascinating hybrid — digital text conversion feeding into a 19th-century mechanical casting system — that perfectly embodies the piece's theme of old and new coexisting.
This piece, along with the King Tut narration (HTA-0339), represents Henry's highest literary achievement in broadcast journalism: pure storytelling that operates on multiple thematic levels simultaneously while remaining accessible and emotionally engaging.